This invention relates to an absorbent article having a multilayer absorbent core for containing body fluid expelled from a human body. More specifically, this invention relates to a thin incontinence pantyliner for absorbing and retaining urine.
Absorbent articles such as catamenial pads, sanitary napkins, pantyliners, and the like, are designed to be worn adjacent to a woman""s pudendum to absorb body fluid such as menses, blood, urine and other body excretions. It has been found that many women suffering from incontinence will buy and use a feminine care product, such as a pantyliner or a sanitary napkin, for the purpose of absorbing and retaining urine. Many incontinent men will also buy and/or wear feminine care products since they are readily, commercially available and these products may also be present in their household.
Incontinence users experience important differences from menstruating women and the use of commercially available feminine care products may not satisfy their specific needs. Most incontinence users require a product that can absorb and retain urine over an extended period of time. Since feminine care products are specifically designed to absorb and retain menses, many do not contain superabsorbents. Superabsorbents are capable of retaining large quantities of body fluid, such as urine, but it is known that they can impede the flow of menses. Without the presence of superabsorbents, many feminine care products do not have the fluid retention capacity needed by incontinence users. The presence of superabsorbents in incontinence products allows the liquid urine to be locked away so the product feels dry to the wearer. Many incontinence users tend to expel only a few drops of urine at a time and therefore they tend to wear their products over a longer time period. In addition, many incontinence users are older, frugal or on a fixed income and therefore some tend to wear their products for an extended period of time in order to save money. Another reason many incontinence users wear pantyliners or ultra thin catamenial pads for incontinence is that most incontinence products are thick and bulky rather than being thin and discreet. In our society, incontinence users have a strong psychological reason for not wanting other people to know that they suffer from incontinence.
Because of the above concerns, there is a need to produce a relatively inexpensive, thin incontinence pad or pantyliner, having a thickness of less than about 5 millimeters, which can absorb and retain from between about 20 grams to about 100 grams of urine.
Now, a relatively inexpensive, thin absorbent article has been invented that can do just that. This absorbent article contains an absorbent core formed from two or more layers of stabilized material, each containing a superabsorbent.
Briefly, this invention relates to an absorbent article, such as an incontinence pad or pantyliner, having an absorbent core formed from two or more layers of blended material to provide protection against involuntary loss of body fluids. The absorbent article includes a liquid permeable bodyside liner, a liquid-impermeable baffle, and first and second absorbents positioned between the liner and the baffle. The first absorbent is a stabilized material containing a superabsorbent and has a predetermined basis weight. The second absorbent is positioned below the first absorbent and contains a different superabsorbent from the superabsorbent present in the first absorbent. The second absorbent has a basis weight that is greater than the basis weight of the first absorbent.
The general object of this invention is to provide an absorbent article having an absorbent core formed from two or more layers for containing body fluid involuntarily expelled from a human body. A more specific object of this invention is to provide a thin incontinence pad or pantyliner for absorbing and retaining urine.
Another object of this invention is to provide an absorbent article that has a thickness of less than about 5 millimeters.
A further object of this invention is to provide a thin absorbent article that utilizes a two or more layer absorbent core, each containing a different superabsorbent.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a thin absorbent article that utilizes an absorbent core formed from two or more layers, each of which contains a different superabsorbent, and the second absorbent layer has a greater basis weight than the first absorbent.
Still further, an object of this invention is to provide a reasonably priced, thin absorbent article that is easy to manufacture.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the following description and the accompanying drawings.